A post full of photos

Hullo all , we are back home again after a wonderful holiday in New Zealand.  Unfortunately I also brought back with me a rotten sinus infection so it has taken me a few days to start to get my act together.  If you don't want to see photos turn off now as New Zealand has to have more photogenic sites than anywhere else I have visited I think.  The weather was cold, but we expected that and we were lucky enough to miss most of the rain.  There was a 4.3 earthquake aftershock while we were in Christchurch, but we slept peacefully through it!

 View from the plane flying into the narrow valley to Queenstown airport.

 This was what we looked out at from the balcony of our apqrtment

 We had to go on a gondola ride to see some superb views of the city.  Mad people take their bikes up there as well, then tear down the hill at breakneck speed!

 This was the view on the way up

 and one of the views from the platform at the top

Even crazier people ride down the luge - there is a longer, faster track for single riders, and a family friendly slower course for fathers and children - I didn't see any mothers taking it!

 One of the highlights of the trip had to be the helicopter ride we had out to the Remarkables mountain range nearby - five passengers and the pilot.  My sister and I were in the front with the pilot so we had some fantastic views.  There was a girl in the back with Bill who was terrified the whole time - I am not sure if she was still talking to her boyfriend when we landed again.

 This was taken when we landed on the Remarkables.  Nobody could tell me the origin of the name unfortunately.

 A panorama taken while we had landed

I rather like this one.

 Of course we visited the Botanic Gardens in Queenstown.  The city, by the way, like most of New Zealand, is very hilly, so walking was a bit slow and laborious as Bill was hobbled by his damaged Achilles tendon, and Barb by her gammy knee (she needs a knee replacement).

 There were some beautiful magnolias, and I am not sure what the other flower is.

 The first of many rhododendrons we saw.

 This photo is in the wrong place, but it is a lo9bely clematis we saw planted in a shopping mall

 This was a view of the city from the botanic gardens - the hills gave great photo opportunities

 I can't remember the name of this lovely old steamer which takes tourists on a 90 minute ride on Lake Wakatipi.  We thought of going on that but my sister could not stand  the smell of the coal, so we opted for a slightly more modern boat ride.

 This sunset was magnificent, after a showery day, it should have loaded after the photo below.

Two drowned rats!!!!  We had one horrible day weatherwise while we were in Queenstown. but drove up to Glen Orchy anyway.  It was freezing outside so we didn't stay out of the car for long at all!

These are enough photos for tonight, I am starting to cough again so I am off to have a hot shower.  I still haven't had time to edit many of the photos I took, but we saw some wonderful places.  The albatrosses were flying in Otago Bay and the penguins in an Aquarium in Auckland were real highlights, and of course the conference was inspirational.  More photos in a few days.